a. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to hand guards for vehicles with handlebars, including ATVs, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, jet skis, and the like. The present invention hand guards are attachable to the handlebars and have at least three different modes of use, due to the combination of a moveable insert or cover, as well as a moveable shield. The term “moveable” as used herein should be taken to include rotatable, as with hinged elements, slideable, as with tracked elements, and includes removable. In some embodiments, the present invention hand guard may also include reflectors, decorative lights and/or signal lights.
b. Description of Related Art
The following patents are representative of the field pertaining to the present invention:
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0279348 A1 to Wood describes a lever guard for handlebar of a motorcycle that includes a clamp, secured to the cylindrical surface of the handlebar of the motorcycle, and a guard portion that is bolted to the clamp. The clamp is placed outside of the grips of the motorcycle. The guard provides protection for both the clutch and brake levers of the motorcycle, which are generally mounted on the handlebar of conventional motorcycles. When riding a motorcycle, a rider may accidentally come into contact with either stationary objects, other riders, or other vehicles, resulting in the accidental application of the brake or clutch lever. In competition, this contact is quite frequent. The lever guard helps to prevent this contact by serving as a barrier between the clutch or brake lever and any other rider or object.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0234129 A1 to Adan describes an improved hand guard assembly that comprises a main body portion, a clamp, and an arm member. A hinge joint assembly pivotally connects the arm member to a second end of the main body portion. The clamp connects a handlebar to a first end of the main body portion. A coil spring of the hinge joint assembly restricts the free rotation of the arm member relative to the main body portion about a central axis. In a frontal accident or sudden deceleration of the vehicle, the operator's arms may hit the shield attached to the arm member in a forward direction imparting a forward force and rotating the arm member about the hinge joint assembly. The operator may then be thrown clear from the vehicle, preventing additional injuries that can occur when an operator's arms are caught between conventional hand guards and the handlebars.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0314125 A1 to Mentasi describes a hand guard for a grip and lever terminal of a motorcycle handlebar, including a convex outer surface (lout) guard having a bracket protrusion extending from its rear surface for fixing the guard to the handlebar, comprises a monodirectional, limited rotation joint between the fixing bracket and the guard for allowing downward rotation by at least 80.degree., contrasted by an elastic element. The hand guard may optionally further comprise a second monodirectional, limited rotation joint allowing a relative rotation of the first joint (5) and guard (1) assembly around a vertically oriented axis of rotation monodirectionally toward the front wheel fork head of the motorcycle.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0007720 A1 to Tung describes a protection guard for vehicle handlebar, which is mounted on a handlebar, includes a fixing arm having an arm body mounted on the handlebar, an arm-to-bracket conjunction portion formed on another end opposite to the handlebar; an adjusting bracket having a bracket body formed of “L” shape, a bracket-to-arm conjunction portion formed on an end of the bracket body, at least two thread holes formed on the bracket-to-arm conjunction portion, a bracket-to-cover joining portion formed on another end, the arm-to-bracket conjunction portion of the fixing arm is threaded to one of the thread holes; and a cover having a cover body, a cover-to-bracket joining portion formed on the cover body and connected to the bracket-to-cover joining portion of the adjusting bracket; thereby, when the adjusting bracket turned around or moved to change the position of the thread hole relative to the arm-to-bracket conjunction portion of the fixing arm, the cover then having variety locating position relative to the handlebar.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0141821 A1 to Degarate et al. describes an integrated hand and controls protection system for vehicles utilizing handlebars for steering, consisting of: hand/controls guards (guards), integral/stowable mirror assembly, damper mount, display guard and integral electrical accessory mounting provisions.
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0217243 A1 to Laivins et al. describes an ATV clamp assembly. The clamp assembly includes a central body having a handlebar leg and a hand guard leg, a handlebar clamp pivotally connected to the handlebar leg and removably clamped to the ATV's handlebar and a hand guard member pivotally connected to the hand guard leg and removably connected to the hand guard. Also addressed is a motorcycle clamp assembly including a handlebar clamp removably connected to the motorcycle's handlebar and having a generally rectangular shape with rounded ends and having a tapered aperture configured to mate with handlebar's tapered portion, and a hand guard member connected to the hand guard and pivotally connected to the handle bar clamp. A method for manufacturing hand guards is disclosed. Using that method, one or more bends are cut in the X-Y plane and a bender is used to form at least one bend in the Z-axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,408,093 to Brumana et al. describes a protection device for the ends of a handlebar of a motorcycle, of the type comprising a protection member which can be attached to the ends of said handlebar, which comprises a structural protection member which can be attached with an attachment portion to the ends of said handlebar, and having an aerodynamic guard intended to be positioned in front of an actuation lever of said handlebar of the motorcycle, the aerodynamic guard being configured to reduce the dynamic pressure downstream thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,644,642 B2 to Paris et al. describes a top clamp for steering systems used in cycles, such as motorcycles. The top clamp may be adapted to allow a hand guard crossbar to couple directly thereto. The top clamp may also have a steering damper mount plate adjustably coupled thereto to enable the movement of the handlebars from a forward position to a rearward position without causing the steering damper to move from axial alignment with the axial center of a steering tube.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D549,619 S to Jacobs describes the ornamental design for a hand guard, as shown and described in the drawings thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 319,992 to Acerbis illustrates the ornamental design for a pair of mountain bike handguards, as shown and described in the drawings thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,782 to Jones describes an improved pull loop safety handle for motorcycles. The handle is of the type which includes a pivot point connectable to the handle bars of a motorcycle, bicycle scooter, all terrain vehicle or quad. A cable connection fitting is positioned on the handle and the improvement includes a continuation of the arm into a closed loop having an inner opening sufficiently large for the user's fingers to extend therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,661 to Cullen describes a protector for the hand of a rider mounted on a bicycle or motorcycle which is of semi-circular shape having an arcuate mid-section terminating at its opposite ends in retainers for detachably mounting onto the handlebar of the vehicle about the handgrips thereof. The retainer at one end is of the C-clamp variety having fasteners securing the clamp to the handlebar while the other retainer is an inwardly projection adapted to cooperate with the open bore terminating end of the handlebar to hold or retain the protector in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,567 to Scott describes rigid protective coverings for the hands when operating a handle bar controlled vehicle that are attached securely to the vehicle and allow convenient access for the operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,249 to Bothwell describes a handlebar for a motor cycle or the like, which has at one or each end thereof a hand-grip portion and a generally U-shaped rigid guard. The two ends of the guard are connected to the handlebar at respectively opposite ends of the hand-grip portion so that when the handlebar is in use the guard projects forwardly of the hand grip portion and defines with the latter an opening for a rider's hand gripping said portion, whereby the guard affords protection for the hand in the event of a crash. The guard is provided with a covering of resiliently deformable material. The covering extends around the part of the handlebar to which the inner end of the guard is secured and the outer end of the guard is connected to the outer end of the handlebar by a removable plate. The covering is recessed to receive the free end of a pivotable control lever whilst permitting movement of the lever relative to the hand-grip portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,912 to Edwards describes a handlebar safety shield fitted about the gripping control surfaces of a motorcycle handlebar in a manner to provide a protective shield for the hands of the motorcycle operator and to the hand controls of the motorcycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,188 to Edgar describes a device adapted to be secured to the handle bars of a bicycle or tricycle to protect the rider from the wind and also protects his hands. This device also has a special appearance which encourages young riders to use same and enables him to participate in various games with other riders.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,523 to Dick et al describes a hand protector grip and more specifically pertains to a combined grip and hand guard for engaging in the end of a rod to form a handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,063,493 to Douglas describes improvements in cycle handles and more particularly to an improved form of guard for the handle bars of motor cycles.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.